Intro
- “Abrahamic Worship” vs “pUjA” (=adoration) distinction. 1, 2, 3, 4
- Abrahamic concept of worship is more rigid - God tells you how he should be served in revelations; you cannot go worship him through idols, for example. So there is the concept of “right worship” and “false worship”.
- By contrast, pUjA can take many forms. Consider: आकाशात् पतितं तोयं यथा गच्छति सागरम्। सर्वदेवनमस्काराः केशवं प्रति गच्छति॥
- The famous Abrahamist objection to goes: “Worship the creator, not the creation.” Implying that one is forced to have a dichotomy between the creator and his creation in matters of worship.
- The target of pUjA need not be Gods or deities. Does Ayudha-pUja necessarily imply in the mind of the worshipper that a Maruti Car is a God? Is such a belief even required? Even if one considers the car to be one of the places where the divine resides, this still contrasts with the notion of Abrahamic worship which would prohibit such “idolatory”.
- Belief in a certain dogma is important in worship, but not in pUjA. Christian belief is that worship of false Gods takes you to hell.
- pUjA is more flexible: doesn’t require any fixed belief - it may only require the concept of sahRdayatA while performing the pUjA; the fact that it has to do with emotional well being rather than physical well being; that the beliefs in the bhAvanA-loka (emotional world) are separate from beliefs about the physical world.
- Quotes from Abrahamists upon uncountering heathen art: here.
Grudging proto-polytheism
- One observes in monotheisms a grudging continuation of polytheisms. Examples: jewish prayer, catholic prayer, greek orthodox anathema ritual (where those who see polytheism in worship of icons and such are declared “anathema”).
- In Islam, there are a variety of angels (belief in them is one of the 6 articles of faith), with distinct traits and physical features. TW
